To an outsider, working retail seems like the easiest job. But we don't just obsess over clothes and shoes all day—working with people is difficult sometimes. Here are some examples of how.
1. Folding the perfect pile.
...Only to have someone come over two minutes later and mess it up. They may have even watched you spend 10 minutes perfecting your quarter fold, but they don't care. They need a large—and it's on the bottom.
2. People who try on too many things.
There's a special place for people who bring more than 10 things into the fitting rooms and leave with one. There's an even more special place for people who throw the clothes on the floor instead of hanging them back up like they're supposed to.
3. The people with no sense of time.
AKA those who walk in two minutes before closing time. If you know we're closing and you still take your time to look at every single item we own, you've got some bad karma coming for you.
4. People who don't understand the concept of closing
Different from those who make it in the store just in time, the people who bang on the doors even though they're clearly locked are something else. Yes, I locked the door one minute before eight o'clock and no, I'm not going to re-open it for you. Sue me.
5. The sale section.
The most dreaded section of the store. You avoid it all day until it's finally time to straighten the store at closing time. Cleaning the sale section consists of pulling the loose hangers from the rack, crying, picking all the clothes up from the floor, crying, re-hanging the items, crying, organizing them by size—oh, and crying some more. If I could describe the sale section, I would say it's a pit of mixed fabric torn by ravenous suburban moms.
6. The return policy.
More specifically, the people who don't understand it or don't want to. You can't try to exchange a shirt you bought six months ago; we don't even have it in stock anymore. Don't try to pretend you didn't wear the item you're trying to return. We can tell what's been worn and what hasn't.
7. Shoes.
No shoe will ever make your feet feel okay. After working five hours walking around the same store, a foot rub won't even fix the damage. You get used to the pain, but it never gets better.
8. Having to help someone right before you're set to leave.
It's nobody's fault, but it's probably the worst possible thing that can happen in that moment. Whether you were about to take your beloved break or finally go home to your happy place, there's always that one person who tests your patience. No ma'am, I'm not crying, sure I'll pull that shirt for you and you want me to check if we have that in the back? OK, after I check I'll open a fitting room up for you. But then I'll probably have to punch you in the face, sorry!
9. Multitasking.
Since when has it become socially and morally acceptable to talk to someone while they're talking to someone else? Now I have to awkwardly tell you to wait a minute while I help out the customer I'm already helping out. I also have to put these shirts back that are weighing down my hand, because the nice lady I'm helping caught me in the middle of my go-back run. But you're just going to get frustrated with me after a minute anyway and hunt down one of my coworkers—which you should've done in the first place. But hey, who am I to tell you what to do? I'm only a working class citizen with manners.
10. The go-back pile.
Speaking of go-back runs, the fitting room after a busy day is probably my worst enemy. My favorite past time is clearing the go-back rack and then working on the giant pile of clothes that need to be folded/hung because people can't do that themselves in the fitting rooms. Oh, and then watching the rack fill back up within a matter of minutes. That's my favorite part, actually.
